Saw-Tooth Recovery for Blount

The world's largest maker of saw chains sees better days as the business starts to stabilize. Could a dividend and buyback be in the offing?

Blount International, the world's largest maker of saw chains, prospers mightily when times are good. That's because the replacement cycle on saws used professionally, mostly for logging, is a mere two weeks.

Lately, however, business has been sluggish. A weak global economy has depressed chain-saw use, leaving Blount's distributors with high levels of inventory. That has hurt demand across many markets in the U.S., Europe, and Asia....